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Electronic portfolios, or e-Portfolios, are becoming increasingly common in today’s time.
As they continue to grow, it is important to reflect on what they are, how they are used, and what
the most important elements of them are. According to George Lorenzo and John Ittelson, e-
Portfolios are electronic collections of examples, such as accomplishments and resources, that
represent either a group, institution, or individual (2005). People can decide who gets to look at
and discuss their work depending on what they created their e-Portfolio for. In many cases,
people want to showcase their best work and their e-Portfolio grows and changes over time, as
they complete more work. Many people include work samples, images, links to other websites,
etc. in their e-Portfolios.
While many people are using e-Portfolios, it is important to note how they are being used
as well. According to Elizabeth Hartnell-Young and Maureen Morriss, "there are three general
purposes for developing portfolios: Learning (Formative) Portfolios, which usually occurs on an
ongoing basis supporting professional development; Assessment (Summative) Portfolios, which
usually occurs within the context of a formal evaluation process; and Employment (Marketing)
Portfolios, which are used for seeking employment" (1999). Today, people are mostly using
them for education and employment purposes. In education, e-Portfolios are being used to help
students engage in their learning. They are now able to put their thoughts together in an
interesting and digital way. In a digital age, this is crucial because students are connecting to
their work in new ways. Students feel good about their work because they produced it and put a
lot of effort into it. This would be something that I would love to start using with my 5th graders.
While they are young and don’t have as much technological experience as a secondary student, I
believe they would really engage with their learning and take ownership in it. According to
Helen Barrett in her TED Talk, when a student is curious about something and passionate about
3. ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIOS 3
it, it is much greater than intelligence. If educators can spark student’s curiosity and passion
through using e-Portfolios, they should do it more often. Another way that e-Portfolios are being
used today is for employment purposes. People are taking their work and compiling it all in an e-
Portfolio to give to potential employers. Instead of resumes and cover letters, people are using
digital forms to present their best work. This allows employers to engage more in the information
being presented to them and it is all compiled on one site. People are able to present their work
samples and all of the information an employer needs into an e-Portfolio.
While people are using e-Portfolios for various reasons, it is vital to consider the most
important elements of these creations. One thing that it should have is an “About Me” section
that includes information about the person who is writing the e-Portfolio. It should also have
artifacts which can take the form of work samples, websites, or any other work created by the
author. Overall, it needs to include some kind of work that showcases abilities. It needs to
document your skills, achievements, and work. These artifacts need to be organized in a way that
makes sense. It would also be beneficial to include a reflection of the artifacts for whoever is
reading. Now that I have completed a solid portion of my e-Portfolio, I realize that I have been
able to reflect and I did include this week.
I plan to use e-Portfolio to showcase my graduate level work. I plan to use this to compile
my work for my graduation requirement from my program. I have not decided how I want to do
that exactly. A lot of my work so far is papers I have written and I am unsure how to use that
with e-Portfolio. However, I like the idea of compiling work online and having it digitally. I
believe I may use it someday for employment purposes, but for now I will just use it for
educational purposes. I was able to embed documents which was very helpful. I believe that an
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e-Portfolio will be much easier to put together than a paper portfolio. Everything is already
digital, so I plan to continue to embed items to use for my final exit requirement.
References
Hartnell-Young, E., & Morriss, M.P. (1999). Digital professional portfolios for change.
